Are our beliefs and prejudices hard-wired into us? Four Harvard intellectuals – a doctor, an actress, a psychologist, and a neurobiologist studying the human brain’s response to race – search for love, success, and identity in a complex world. With barbed wit, Huntington Playwriting Fellow Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly) explores the inescapable nature of racism and other tricky topics in this controversial and fiercely funny new play that will be directed by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois (Rapture, Blister, Burn and Sons of the Prophet).

"Quick-witted, wildly intelligent, and as entertaining as it is unsettling, Smart People is Lydia Diamond’s most ambitious play to date. Her debut play at the Huntington the wildly successful Stick Fly, was first and foremost about family dynamics, whereas Smart People is about big, controversial ideas. Yet the two share electrifying interpersonal relationships among surprising characters that infuse both stories with great humor and heart.” — Peter DuBois

“What an outrageous honor – the luxury of returning to a theatre I’ve come to call home. I can think of no better place to launch my new play than within the smart, warm embrace of the Huntington. Smart People takes on big, risky ideas and lives in the world of risky questioning and flawed humanity. It is thrilling to have Peter DuBois at the helm of a ship that looks at huge, explosive ideas in nuanced and often humorous ways.”— Lydia R. Diamond

Promotional Partner:

Video

Lydia R. Diamond's sharp new comedy asks bold new questions about race, sex, and relationships in the modern world. Learn more in this exclusive interview with the playwright and cast members Eunice Wong, McKinley Belcher III, Miranda Craigwell, and Roderick Hill.

Lydia R. Diamond finished writing Smart People during a fellowship at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute, and she learned a great deal about her own work from the scientists and researchers that surrounded her.

Audio

From WBUR Radio Boston, June 3, 2014: Playwright Lydia R. Diamond speaks with host Anthony Brooks about the world premiere of Smart People at the Huntington, and the inspiration, politics, and difficult conversations that led to the play.

Articles

Smart People opens with a cascade of overlapping monologues. Each character — Valerie, an actress; Brian, a neurobiologist; Jinny, a sociologist; and Jackson, a medical student — is in their professional element, a situation which is inevitably caught up in their class, race, and other markers of identity. As the play unfolds, Lydia R. Diamond reveals how each of the characters makes knee-jerk assumptions about the others; here, we give you a glimpse of the characters as you’ll meet them onstage.

The cast of characters in Lydia R. Diamond’s Smart People features two academics whose areas of study involve the ongoing complexities of racial stereotypes, especially the grey area of unconscious bias. Learn more about the real-life inspiration behind this science.

Even though everyone should know better, we have ample proof our knee-jerk, and sometimes uncomfortable, assumptions go deep into the national psyche. But in her new play, Smart People, Lydia R. Diamond proves that a conversation about race can be funny, moving, nuanced, and probing.

For most of the 20th century, researchers and theorists viewed racism as a pathology, focusing on radical expressions of racial hatred. In recent decades, however, our understanding of racism has shifted to the way in which most of us make tiny decisions every day that may express subconscious bias.

Press Reviews

"A SPLENDID new play about race . . . under the characteristically deft direction of Peter DuBois. [Diamond writes] with wit, verve, a shrewd eye for portraiture and an equally shrewd ear. The Huntington cast is just superb."— The Boston Globe

"EXCELLENT! Very impressive acting — they're all pretty sexy, too. Diamond and DuBois turn out to be very smart people themselves."— WBUR

"A brilliant marriage of writing and performance that makes for extremely satisfying theatre. Rarely do intelligence and humor so impressively coexist on the same stage. A clever work, full of wit and wisdom."— South Shore Critic

"Great helpings of edgy wit, barbed humor. Provocative entertainment with great talent and stagecraft. Peter DuBois does a masterful job of direction. All and all this is provocative entertainment performed and produced with great performing talent and stagecraft!"— Berkshire Fine Arts

"A snappy, well-acted production. The talented cast delivers on the script's ample humor.Smart People proves how much fun and provocation there is in looking at the present and thinking about the future."— Arts Fuse

Audience Buzz

"This play was one of the best I've ever seen. Thought provoking, smart, funny, moving and brilliantly performed. I loved it. See it if you can."— Anne R., via Facebook

"Smart People at the Huntington Theatre Company is one of the best shows I've seen all year. The script is funny and thought provoking, the cast is all top notch (including Boston's own Miranda Craigwell), great direction and design. It's a play that will generate a lot of interesting conversations, that's for sure. See it if you can."— Patrick G., via Facebook

"Built in racial reaction/attitudes have been and most likely will be with us forever. Works like this can help those willing to be helped. This play dug deep and crossed more lines than most attempts to shine light on the subject. I liked it a lot and wish that it could play to the larger TV audience. ★ ★ ★ ★ "— Arthur M., via Goldstar

From WBUR Radio Boston, June 3, 2014: Playwright Lydia R. Diamond speaks with host Anthony Brooks about the world premiere of Smart People at the Huntington, and the inspiration, politics, and difficult conversations that led to the play.

From The Boston Globe, May 22, 2014: "What’s black and white and crimson all over? Lydia R. Diamond’s new play, Smart People, examines the volatile dynamics of race among four members of the Harvard community around the time Harvard Law School grad Barack Obama was first elected to the presidency. . . . "

From TheaterMania, May 23, 2014: "Playwright Lydia R. Diamond delves into the state of our so-called 'post-racial' America and explains how the election of President Obama forced her to 'up her game' as she broaches these difficult topics. . . . "

McKinley Belcher III

Jackson Moore

Miranda Craigwell

Valerie Johnston

Miranda Craigwell was a Huntington Playwriting Fellow, and appeared as an actress in Smart People. Her other regional acting credits include Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Actors' Shakespeare Project), Selector in How We Got On and Oya / Shaunta Iyun in The Brother / Sister Plays (Company One), Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (Zero Point Theater), and more.Her film and television roles include Grace in Little Eyes (Beyond Measure Productions), Margaret in Four (Jam the Wimp productions), and Oona in the UK television series “Nightlife.”

Roderick Hill

Brian White

Roderick Hill has appeared in Smart People and What The Butler Saw at the Huntington. His Broadway credits include Butley (dir. Nicholas Martin) and Elton John’s Lestat. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and The Interlochen Arts Academy.

Eunice Wong

Ginny Yang

Eunice Wong appeared in Smart People at the Huntington. Her New York credits include Gretchen in Faust (Classic Stage Company), Jenny Chow in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theater Company, Helen Hayes Award), the title role inAntigone and Adela in The House of Bernarda Alba (The National Asian American Theatre Company), and The Merchant of Venice and The Rivals (The Pearl Theatre Company). Ms. Wong trained at The Juilliard School and is also a circus aerialist.

Lydia R. Diamond

Playwright

Lydia R. Diamond's plays include Smart People, Stick Fly, Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye, Harriet Jacobs, and Stage Black. She is currently a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and a playwright in residence at Arena Stage. Ms. Diamond is a graduate of Northwestern University where she majored in performance studies, holds an honorary doctorate of arts from Pine Manor College, and was on faculty at Boston University.

Junghyun Georgia Lee

Costume Design

Junghyun Georgia Lee is a Korean born designer based in New York. Her previous designs for the Huntington include Mike Lew's Tiger Style!, Kirsten Greenidge's Milk Like Sugar and the world premiere of Lydia R. Diamond's Smart People. Her regional work includes productions at theatres such as the Guthrie Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Triad Stage, Playmakers Repertory Company, Dallas Theater Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and Center Stage.

Paul Gallo

Lighting Design

Paul Gallo’s career spans more than three decades as he has designed the lighting for over 50 Broadway productions, including Smart People at the Huntington. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 27 and subsequently has been on Broadway for nearly 30 consecutive years. He is the recipient of eight Tony Award nominations, ten Drama Desk Award nominations (winning one), six Outer Critics Awards, two Obie Awards, and the 1986 Obie for Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design. Mr. Gallo is a graduate of Ithaca College and the Yale School of Drama.

Nathan Leigh

Projection Design

Nathan Leigh has designed sound and composed original music for New York Theatre Workshop, Red Bull Theater, American Repertory Theater, Berkshire Theatre Group, The Debate Society (Gothamist, Best Sound Design 2007 for The Eaten Heart), Greater Boston Stage Company (IRNE Award, Best Sound Design 2009 for Strangers On A Train), Central Square Theater (IRNE Award, Best Sound Design 2010 for The Hound of the Baskervilles), and many more.